Ok so iv heard a lot of stupid things said about this election, but this was by far the worst I think, I was on the gay marriage USA page on FB and they posted that thing about the 47% that Romney said, and this girl says ," if your not a tax paying citizen and you have no job you do not get to vote , NO JOB NO VOTE PERIOD!" Needless to say this disturbed me vey much , she is pretty much saying I can't vote, I was laid off in April and have searched and applied at any and every place I can and of course I haven't gotten a job yet, so that means because I don't have Job I'm some no nothing person that doesn't have a right to vote on who runs this country , I have no say it something that will effect my life?!?! If that's the case then half of the country including disabled people and veterans Couldnt vote either. Now I do realize that their are people who abuse the system that are in the 47% Romney talked about, however all of us people who are working hard to make our life's better are being treated like shit it's kinda like when in school one person talks and the whole class gets punished , I hate being told that I'm a lazy leecher and I just want everything from the government , and I don't the only assistance I'm getting is unemployment which is rightfully mine seeing as I paid into it when I was working. Anyways discuss away I always love to see what you ECers say I value your opinions a lot.
I absolutely CANNOT STAND this prejudice against the unemployed. Im Canadian but still have experienced it firsthand. I was basically disowned by my own mother in the middle of the recession because she claimed I "didnt want to work", when the reality was I COULDNT FIND A JOB. I sacrificed my food money for rent and there was a 2 week period where my ex and I were living off of filipino-style empanadas for every meal because they were the leftovers from his parents' catering business. (if you dont know what those are, theyre super super unhealthy). Hunger makes you crazy. I was literally looking at squirrels and crows and wanting to kill and cook them. In the meantime she is off planning trips to Europe with my sister, who is perfect and flawless because she is in law school. Most people want to work and feel valued. Even if you have a disability that bars you from most employment, you would prefer to work if you could. This horrible prejudice promotes paranoia towards the unemployed and a holier-than-thou attitude among the employed. Bottom line, its dehumanizing and disgusting that the unemployed are treated this way and something needs to be done.
I completely agree its horrible , how people are treated because rich people or people who have held jobs for a while don't realize how hard it is to get a job , and think its totally easy ,so of course we must just be lazy bums who don't want to work I would really like them to lose their job and see how easy it is to find work , I can pretty much guareente they would treat us differently after that .
The stupidity! It burns!! of course I'm talking about the "no job no vote" thing. As far as I know in Canada, if you're not making over a certain amount you don't have to pay taxes (or more correctly minuscule amounts, i think which most of it gets returned anyways). How do you even explain that...It's funny though how short people's memories are in the case of trying to prevent the unemployed from voting when it wasn't even the unemployed's fault in the first place that there's a recession in the US.
But I bet whomever said that didn't mean for it to apply to the spouses of high-income earners who don't work because they don't have to - ha! What a ridiculous statement. Fortunately, that is not how it works.
The prejudice against the unemployed is just as bad, if not worse, in the UK. Out of the many political/economic/social fallacies that have built up over the decades, mainly on the fault of sensationalist right-wing media and believed by an frustratingly large number of people, it is the one that grinds my gears the most, perhaps only second to the 'socialism' being turned into a dirty word and 'illegal immigrants are scroungers, taking all our jobs and our benefits!!1!'* Not only can these two not be done to any great extent or simultaneously, but being an illegal immigrant by its very definition means you can't claim benefits/welfare. Hopefully anyone reading this doesn't actually need to be reminded of that. Most of this post is rather off-topic, but it's just something I need to let out every few days or so. I should be alright until at least this weekend now. Cool. * propaganda (and that's really what it is) against the scientific consensus of the mechanics of global warming and humans' impact upon it is also up there, but that's definitely for a different thread.
You have a right to vote. Don't let anyone try to take that way from you. So what about stay at home moms, under her plan they wouldn't get to vote either.
What a quaint opinion! The last time I am aware of a similar variant being expressed was by John Jay back in 1833. His son attributes the following to him: "Those who own the country ought to govern it." I know what you're talking about is a little different, but not by much. The sentiment is still the same: by narrow and superficial measures, only so-called "productive" people should be allowed to vote. This is the same kind of view that the founders originally had and that we now consider to be pretty embarrassing at this point in time in our history.
Pretty typical classic Conservative worldview. In their view, government exists not to provide a democratic representation of the people but rather as a protector of the status quo for the privileged elites. Those who have the money and the power and the success should have their status protected while those who don't can drop dead for all they care. Unfortunately this sort of worldview has become the prevalent ideology of the Republican Party in the U.S. If Mitt Romney wins the presidency, this will be the guiding principle of a Romney administration's policies.
